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285provided for myself; my bow supplied
my stomach's needs by striking down the doves
that flew above me; and when my swift arrow
sped from the string and struck one, I would crawl
in pain and drag my throbbing foot behind me
290toward it; and when I needed drinking-water
or firewood, even when the frosts of winter
were hard upon me, I crept forth in pain,
and somehow managed. Yet, I had no fire:
I ground two stones together till, at last,
295a spark appeared from nowhere - and preserved me.
And now a home to live in and a fire
suffice - except to free me from this illness.
Let me, my child, describe this island to you.
No sailor, of his own free will, comes near it;
there is no harbor here, no place to land
300and sell his goods with profit, or be welcomed:
no one with any sense would anchor here!
But if one did, against his will (for often
in the long life of man these things occur),
he, when he came, my son, would speak to me
305with pity, and would give me, from compassion,
some portion of his food or of his clothing;
yet none, when I would mention it, was willing
to take me home, and I have wasted here
for ten long years in hunger and in pain,
310feeding the ravenous maw of my disease.
The sons of Atreus and the strong Odysseus
have done this to me, child: and may the gods
in heaven grant me vengeance for my wrongs!
chorus
I think that I must pity you as greatly
as they who came before me, son of Poeas.
Neoptolemus
315 And I bear witness to your words: I know
how true they are. I too have felt the hand
The women of Trachis and Philoctetes. A new translation in verse by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966.
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